Urgent - Telephone Scam Alert

Since September 2013, Cambridgeshire has suffered nearly 100 fraud offences in a scam called 'Courier Fraud'.

This is a sophisticated scam where people are telephoned by fraudsters and duped into revealing their PIN and handing over their bank card to a courier. To carry this out, a fraudster rings you claiming to be a police officer or someone from your bank. You are then informed that your bank card has been cloned or used fraudulently. You may be asked to ring back dialing either 999 or using the phone number on the back of your card - which further convinces you the call is genuine. However, the criminal keeps the line open at their end so, when you make the call, you are unknowingly connected straight back to the fraudster.

Then, by seeming to offer assistance, the fraudster tries to gain your trust. In most cases you are asked to ‘cancel’ your existing card or ‘activate’ or ‘authorise’ a replacement card by either reading out your PIN or by keying it into your phone’s handset. In some cases, victims have been asked to withdraw thousands so that the investigation can be progressed. The fraudster then tells you that a courier will pick up your card or cash from your home. In some cases a genuine courier company is hired to pick up the card, which the victim has been asked to place into an envelope.

Cambridgeshire Police were contacted recently by a victim who reported that she was waiting at home with £5,000 for a courier to collect, and on 25th February an elderly gentleman fell victim to the scam and handed over £2000.

On 25^th February 2014, 17 scam incidents were reported to their control centre and on the 24^th February 2014 they received 7 reports and are aware that there may be many more attempts across the county that have not been reported.

Remember this advice:

• Your bank or the police will NEVER ring you and tell you that they are coming to your home to pick up your card, so never hand it over to anyone who comes to collect it.
• Your bank will NEVER ask you to authorise anything by entering your PIN into the telephone.
• NEVER share your PIN with anyone – the only times you should use your PIN is at a cash machine or when you use a shop’s chip and PIN machine.

Please pass this message to friends and family, particularly the elderly who are most vulnerable. If you should receive a call of this nature please report it to Action Fraud, a Police organisation which links intelligence and potential fraudulent acts across the country on 0300 123 2040 or, contact the Police by calling 101.